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It's Veganmofo time again. This year I'm better prepared with a couple posts saved up and the evenings blocked out for blogging. My goal is to post five times a week for the coming month. To accomplish this, I've made a double batch of my chicken flavored seitan. And I'll post it in several different forms. I've got addicting baked chicken nuggets already done, along with a tangy mustard sauce and a wonderful picture of a seitan packed stir fry, so stay tuned and these posts will be revealed.

These seitan cutlets are most delicious when dusted in flour and lightly pan fried.

For the dry mix, crumble the rosemary and bay leaves, along with the sage, thyme and other spices into a spice grinder. Grind into a powder. Combine the spices with the other dry ingredients. Blend the wet ingredients and pour into the dry ingredients. Stir to combine into a dough. Knead for about 5 minutes, until the dough becomes somewhat elastic. Cover with a damp cloth Set aside for 30-60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Bring the chicken flavored broth to a boil and keep at a simmer. Place a pyrex 9x13 casserole in the oven while it preheats. Kneed the dough for another 5 minutes. Separate into 12 balls. Using the ball of your hand, pound each ball into a cutlet shape and set aside. When all the cutlets are shaped, combine the boiling liquid ingredients (make sure the water is boiling hot) in the preheated pot. Add the seitan cutlets. the cutlets will overlap and this is OK. Just fit them in and make sure they're covered with liquid. Bake, covered in the oven for about 1 1/2 hours. Remove from the oven and remove the seitan from the liquid.

They can be kept in the refrigerator, with the cooking liquid for at least a week (that's about as long as I'll go). They also freeze, with the liquid, very well. Makes 12 cutlets.

I am happy to see you will be doing vegan mofo--I will look forward to your posts! I am excited to try this recipe...I have not had much success using seitan recipes baked in liquid in the oven, OR using seitan recipes with tofu in them, but these just look and sound so good, I am willing to give it another try...

I would like to make these, but can't eat tofu (soy intolerant). Do you think that pureed white beans would work in its place? Also I do not have a large enough pan to cook these in the oven, so could they be done on the stove top as well?

snugglebunny, the answer to both of your questions is yes. I use white beans in many other recipes and I think they would work fine here as well. As far as the oven goes, I use the casseroles because they fit the cutlets nicely and the oven because it provides an even, gentle heat. On the stove top, just make sure that the cooking is maintained at just below boiling.

Just wanted to let you know that I made these today and they worked fine with the white beans and on the stovetop. The dough was a bit stiff though, so I am adding another quarter cup of water to the wet ingredients; since I need ot make up for the extra water in the silken tofu.

Catriona, The most sensitive part is the water temperature. You want to keep the water just below the boiling point. If the water boils the seitan will get spongy. If that's not it, send me an e-mail. I'll see if I can see what happened.

Shannon, I think both would probably be fine. The chickpea flour has a more chickeny flavor, but it probably doesn't contribute much to the flavor anyway. The water packed tofu will probably give a firmer texture, but that may even be desirable.

There are a number of broths available. I've used Imagine (I think) No-Chicken broth and also bulk powders. Usually, I use Better Than Bouillon No-Chicken base. But, as always, just check the labels. There are numerous vegan 'chicken' broths.

Hi Matt, what do you mean by the boiling ingredients? Aren't you just boiling the chicken broth? Also, it says to make sure it's boiling hot, but then you told someone to make sure it was cooked just below boiling so as not to get spongy...it's my first time and I'm confused! :) Can't wait to try it!

You the cooking broth should be boiling when you add it to the oven. The seitan is cool and will lower the temperature of the broth. If it's not boiling hot to begin with, it may not get hot enough in the oven.

Once in the oven, you want the broth to stay just at a simmer. This yields the best texture. If it boils hard, especially in the beginning, the seitan will become chewy. It's less important toward the end.

Its a little trial and error. What I described is best case. If you're a little off, the end product will still be fine.

Thank you for this recipie! Last time I made it I doubled most of the spices and used a little bit more soy sauce and my meat eating boyfriend even said it tasted better than real chicken! Making it again tonight ;)

I made this the other day and I really like the difference that leaving the 'dough' makes... the gluten relaxes a LOT which makes it easier to form into cutlets. What I also did was use the method in American Vegan Kitchen and lightly pan fry the formed cutlets in a small amount of olive oil and then place them in the baking dish before covering with the hot stock. The cutlets are then quite warm before they go into the oven.